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Visitor Comments: 8

(8)
haider ali,
April 29, 2015 8:14 PM

very good and fantastic

Amezing

(7)
Michal,
November 9, 2011 11:19 PM

It's much more than a book

Since I can think, the Torah was the most important book in my life. How else could I have known at the age of 14, that I want to belong to God as long as I live. Where did I know this from? From reading Torah. I loved reading. But I knew, I learned all about the creator of the world and the universe, but this creater loved us, loved what He had created. And this love story only became more and more intense. It is natural, to love Him back. And who, who fell in love, does not know that every word the loved one writes, is the most important thing in the whole world. Later in life I learned too, that
He is asking you to do what He wants you to do. But that also shows His love. I am far from being perfect, and sometimes I am sad about it. But when I don't know what to say, I only have to look at the Psalms. There you find words for everything you feel. (I must confess, that I speak of the "written Torah") And where do you find everything again? In the Siddur. Our daily prayerbook. Baruch Hu. - and He sent me the right teachers, who tought me. All my life. Til today.

(6)
Maria,
November 9, 2011 8:59 PM

This is very good

It is very inspiring to see how learning Torah has a practical value in everyday living for people with their feet well planted on the ground, be they laureated scientists, housewives, financial executives, famous artists, or religious scholars. How the wisdom gained through Torah study contributes to success in their chosen path, adds meaning and purpose, and enhances the quality of their lives.
This film has moved me to take specific actions about my Jewish life: join a study course, and stop being disenfranchised and become part of a community. Thanks for sharing this marvelous monument of encouragement. Much blessings to all!

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!